4 ms·

In fairness, using different pronouns for different genders doesn't make a lot of sense in the first place.

guerrilla 5y ago
It reduces ambiguity, increasing narrowing specificity by half the room on average. I suspect that efficiency trade off showed up in so many unrelated languages because it was useful. It didn't get more specific because that wasn't useful enough. Languages evolve too.
readthenotes1 5y ago
My preferred pronoun is "the majestic one with no time for the nonsense of gendered pronouns". It cannot be combined in a plural; I stand alone.
- giraffe_lady 5y ago
  you know leftists call this "the one joke" because y'all can literally never come up with a different one when someone mentions pronouns.
  - JetAlone 5y ago
    "What are your pronouns?" >"Did this person just assume xy possessive adjectives?"
NaturalPhallacy 5y ago
Sure it does. We're a sexually dimorphic species that can only reproduce with one XY and one XX. Differentiating between them is vital to the continued existence of the species. Talking with your buddies of the same gender about how you were hanging out alone with one of the opposite was a tribally significant thing in the early days of speech. It still today implies you might be mating! And babies might be forthcoming.
- jjk166 5y ago
  We're sexually dimorphic, but linguistic gender is not based on biological sex, and sex identification is merely one of a literally infinite number of potential bits of information that one may wish to convey with language. The fact that an attractive woman in her reproductive prime is referred to with the same pronouns as your grandmother and the Titanic is indicative of how useful pronouns are for identifying who may be mating.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Maybe for some people? Most of my buddies are of the opposite gender, and me hanging out with one of them doesn’t imply anything different to me hanging out with someone of my own gender.
  - NaturalPhallacy 5y ago
    I mean hanging out 1 on 1 with someone of the opposite sex is how like 99.999% of new humans get created.
    - nicoburns 5y ago
      Well sure, but equally 99% of hanging out with the opposite sex doesn't result in new humans being created.
  - throwaway48292 5y ago
    There are definitely people it matters to, I sometimes get tired of the usual remarks and end up awkwardly using "they" or phrasing tricks to try to avoid them

It reduces ambiguity, increasing narrowing specificity by half the room on average. I suspect that efficiency trade off showed up in so many unrelated languages because it was useful. It didn't get more specific because that wasn't useful enough. Languages evolve too.

readthenotes1 5y ago

My preferred pronoun is "the majestic one with no time for the nonsense of gendered pronouns". It cannot be combined in a plural; I stand alone.

giraffe_lady 5y ago
you know leftists call this "the one joke" because y'all can literally never come up with a different one when someone mentions pronouns.
- JetAlone 5y ago
  "What are your pronouns?" >"Did this person just assume xy possessive adjectives?"

NaturalPhallacy 5y ago

Sure it does. We're a sexually dimorphic species that can only reproduce with one XY and one XX. Differentiating between them is vital to the continued existence of the species. Talking with your buddies of the same gender about how you were hanging out alone with one of the opposite was a tribally significant thing in the early days of speech. It still today implies you might be mating! And babies might be forthcoming.

jjk166 5y ago
We're sexually dimorphic, but linguistic gender is not based on biological sex, and sex identification is merely one of a literally infinite number of potential bits of information that one may wish to convey with language. The fact that an attractive woman in her reproductive prime is referred to with the same pronouns as your grandmother and the Titanic is indicative of how useful pronouns are for identifying who may be mating.
nicoburns 5y ago
Maybe for some people? Most of my buddies are of the opposite gender, and me hanging out with one of them doesn’t imply anything different to me hanging out with someone of my own gender.
- NaturalPhallacy 5y ago
  I mean hanging out 1 on 1 with someone of the opposite sex is how like 99.999% of new humans get created.
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    Well sure, but equally 99% of hanging out with the opposite sex doesn't result in new humans being created.
- throwaway48292 5y ago
  There are definitely people it matters to, I sometimes get tired of the usual remarks and end up awkwardly using "they" or phrasing tricks to try to avoid them